Drum series type wheel setting means



NOV. 17, 1964 RElNER 3,157,116

DRUM SERIES TYPE WHEEL SETTING MEANS Filed Oct. 1, 1962 \IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIllllllllllll lllllllllllllllllIIIIIIIII l|||||"IIIIIIIIIIIIIII|||||||||| I WW4 2 Fig-5 Jn van/0r:

United States Patent 1 Claim. ci. 101-110 The present invention relates to a printing apparatus with several rotary printing types which are individually adjustable from the outside by means of setting wheels associated therewith.

It is one object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus for printing optionally composed rows of symbols, mainly for label stamping devices, in which a plurality of printing type wheels, each of which has a corresponding setting wheel associated therewith, the printing and setting wheels being mounted on a common shaft, which in turn is mounted in a stirrup frame, and all but one pair of printing and setting wheels being mounted on the common shaft by means of bearing bushings, each bearing bushing being associated with one pair of printing and setting wheels and each pair of printing and setting wheels being rigidly connected, so

as to be individually rotatable as a unit, and the one pair of printing and setting wheels being mounted on the shaft itself without a bearing bushing.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus, in which each of the printing and setting wheels is provided with an inwardly projecting key formed in its bearing bore, the keys of all but the one pair of printing and setting wheels without bearing bushing engaging corresponding keyways of their hearing bushings, the one pair of printing and setting wheels without bearing bushing being fixed in keyways on the shaft itself. Preferably, spacing discs are mounted on the shaft or bearing bushings between the individual setting wheels.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus, wherein each of'the setting wheels is mounted outside the stirrup frame and tightened against the shaft or the corresponding bearing bushing by means of grub screws.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus, in which a toothed stop wheel is laterally and rigidly connected to each of the printing type wheels, and spring loaded pawls are provided which engage the teeth of the stop wheels, thereby fixing the momentary position of the printing wheels. A blade spring, common to all printing wheels and fixed to the stirrup frame, may be used, the spring being slotted at one end to form individual spring tongues, each spring tongue engaging one or more pawls.

The momentary setting position of the printing wheels may be read by arranging corresponding symbols in juxtaposition in a row on the periphery of the externally disposed setting wheels.

With these and other objects in view, which will become apparent in the following detailed description, the present invention will be clearly understood in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a longitudinal axial section of a apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view of the printing apparatus;

FIG. 3a is a side'elevation of a printing type wheel;

FIG. 3b is a side elevation of a setting wheel;

FIG. 4a is a side elevation of a bearing bushing for the printing and setting wheels;

FIG. 4b is a longitudinal axial section of this bushing; and

FIG. 5 is a vertical section through the printing apparatus taken along the lines 5-5 of FIG. 1 and showing a notched printing wheel in side elevation.

printing h 3,157,116 Patented Nov. 17, 1964 Referring now to the drawing, and in particular to FIGS. 1 and 2, the numeral 1 designates a stirrup frame, in the vertical shank ends 1 of which a common central shaft 2 is mounted. The shaft 2 is provided with two shoulders 2' and2", respectively, the shoulder 2 being disposed at one end of the shaft 2 and the shoulder 2" being disposed approximately at the center of the shaft 2. An associated pair of wheels 9 and 14 is mounted on the shoulders 2' and 2", and cooperating wheel pairs 8 and 15, 8 and 16, 8 and 17, 10 and 19, and 11 and 18 are each mounted on an individual bearing bushing 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, respectively, which bushings have stepped diameters and are mounted on the common shaft '2, the bushings with smaller diameters being disposed coaxially within the bushings with larger diameters. Each of the bushings 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 is individually rotatable relative to the adjacent bushing and theshaft 2. Each of the externally mounted setting wheels 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 is rigidly connected with an associated printing type wheel 8 and 10 and 11 by means of the bushings 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, respectively, and thereby mounted in the stirrup frame 1. The rigid connection between the setting wheels and the printing type wheels, respectively, and the bushings is brought about by keys 12a and 12b (FIGS. 3a and 3b), which are provided in the bearing bores of the wheels and engage corresponding keyways 13a and 13b (FIGS. 4a and 4b) of each of the bearing bushings,

which thus rigidly interconnect in pairs a type and a setting wheel. FIGS. 4a and 4b show, for example, the bushing 4 for the setting wheel 16, provided with grooves 13a and 13b at both ends, which are engaged by the corresponding keys 12a and 12b (FIGS. 3a and 3b) of the setting wheel 16 and of one of the printing type wheels 8. Accordingly the other wheel pairs are mounted on their associated bearing bushings 3, 5, 6, 7 by means of keys and keyways, and the wheel pair 14, 9 is likewise mounted, by means of keys and keyways, in the shoulders 2' and 2 provided onthe shaft 2 itself.

During the assembly of the mechanism, the individual setting wheels 18, 17, 16 and 15 are slipped onto the corresponding bushings 6, 5, 4 and 3, and spacing rings 3, 4}, 5' and '7', respectively, are inserted between the individual wheels, and finally the two outside setting wheels 14 and 19 are mounted as end members and tightened by means of set screws 23 and 24 (FIG. 1), whereby automatically all the wheels are fixedly mounted. Referring now again to the drawing, and in particular to FIG. 5, one end of a blade spring 22 is attached laterally to the frame 1. The other end of the spring 22 is slotted like a fork to form spring prongs or tonguelike ends 22', which press against pivotally mounted pawls 21 (FIGS. 2 and 5), which in turn engage the notches of star wheels 20, one of which is rigidly con nected to each of the six printing type Wheels 8, 9, 10 and 11. The setting wheels 14, 15, 16 and 17 are individually actuatable from one side and the setting wheels 18 and 19 from the other side of the frame 1, in order to bring about a setting of the type, wheels 8, 9, 10 and 11 for printing of a particular marking. The printing wheels are retained against undesired rotation by means of the pawls 21 biased by the spring ends22.

While I have disclosed one embodiment of the present invention, itis to be understood that this embodiment is given by example only and not in a limiting sense, the scope'of the present invention being determined by the objects and the claim.

I claim:

A printing apparatus, particularly for stamping data on labels or the like, comprising a frame,

a bearing mounted on said frame,

a plurality of printing type wheels disposed adjacent each other about a common axis,

a plurality of setting wheels disposed coaxially with said printing type wheels,

said bearing extending between said plurality of printing type wheels and said plurality of setting wheels,

21 bushing connecting each of said printing type wheels with corresponding setting wheels,

all said bushings being disposed concentrically relative to each other and the outermost of said bushings being disposed rotatably in said bearing, and

key means projecting radially inwardly from an inner bore of said printing type wheels and said setting wheels and said bushings having complementary keyways at the points where they connect with said printing type wheels and corresponding setting Wheels.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS Post 10195 Hofiman 101-99 Zahn 101110X Setright 101--66 Swanson 10191 May 101--96 Drucker et al. 101110 Great Britain.

WILLIAM B. PENN, Primary Examiner. 

